Design and Development of Agricultural Waste Shredding Machine

Abstract

After the harvest of most agricultural products, the waste generated is in large quantity. In most cases, this waste is either completely abandoned, destroyed or burnt. There is a need to look for alternative ways through which these wastes can be converted and useful for other purposes. This work developed a shredding machine using locally available materials. The machinecan shred these agricultural wastes into smaller pieces that can be used for animal feed. The machine consists of the following parts the machine frame, the feeding unit, and the transmission section; the materials used in constructing these parts include sheet metals, angle irons, shafts, bolts, and pulleys. The machine performance was evaluated using rice straw. The evaluated parameters include the efficiency of the machine and throughput capacity. The operational speed during the testing includes 350rpm, 650rpm and 970rpm,respectively. Maximum shredding efficiency of 90% was achieved when the shredding speed was 970 rpm. The maximum value of throughput capacity of 2.77kg/min was obtained at a shredding speed of 970rmp, while 1.92kg/min was obtained at a shredding speed of 350rmp. The machine demonstrated good performance and was cost-effective and relatively cheap for small and medium farmers.